Al Ahram, p.6, (9-2-2008)

Three Indian lessons for the French President

By: Laila Havez, New Delhi

Late January, the French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited India with the aim of promoting France's foreign markets. In India, Sarkozy did not get the contracts he wished signed. Yet, he got what is more important, that is the Indian wisdom which developed over thousands of years of experience and practice.

India's pluralism is the foundation on which democracy in this country was established. India is the largest democracy in the world. This is the first lesson French President Sarkozy learnt from India. Over the recent years, France has called for integrating various nationalities and religions in one national structure with the aim of persevering homogeneity of the French identity, and hence maintaining democracy. At the same time, the French President asserted that the French identity is basically Christian when he referred to it during his meeting with the Pope of Vatican as saying: "We, the Christians… and those, the non-Christians…"

But, India has always confirmed that democracy depends on pluralism and that it is not a gift of the former British occupation. Amartya Sen, Nobel-prize winner in economics, says in his book "the Indian Dialectics" that it is pluralism that led democracy to success in India over history and made Indian voters in the 1990s reject the Hindutva party which called for adopting Hinduism as the original civilization of India and the only source of culture there.

The Indian secularism stemmed also from pluralism. India's secularism is different from France's. This is the second lesson Sarkozy learnt from India. The French think that faith and mind are of two different sources and that it is the values of the republic that establish the foundations of co-existence and give citizens the rights of citizenship. Hence, the French Republic calls for removing all religious signs. It prevents students in public schools and civil servants from wearing anything expressing the religion they belong to. That is why French officials claim that the teachings of Islam do not match the values of the secularist republic of France. The French state seeks to establish the so-called "French Islam", instead of Islam in France.

But, secularism in India looks differently at religion. While supporting the impartiality of the state, India does not prevent religious uniform. Over its long history, India considered itself a home for various religions calling for not only tolerance among religions, but also coexistence and exchange of ideas and dialogue. For India, religious pluralism is intellectual and spiritual richness.

Sarkozy learnt another lesson from India, that is how to be patient. Sarkozy is known for being hasty both in his decisions and his political projects. In less than one year, he roamed the world from the US to China, and from Africa to the Middle East. He called for quickly concluding the "Minimized Treaty" of the European Union, or the "Mediterranean Unity" project. But in India, to which Sarkozy carried the peaceful nuclear file, they did not sign contracts quickly for the Indians tend to examine matters patiently as convenient to a country of ancient civilization. Sarkozy justified his coming back from India without signing any agreements by saying that in China, it is the state that signs the projects, while in India it is major private companies that sign such projects, not the state.

Among several projects, Sarkozy presented to India a project offering peaceful nuclear energy assistance. India responded by inviting him to watch a parade on the Independence Day. India intended to make him know that he is dealing with a superpower notwithstanding a developing a country.

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